Lengthy Description Follows:

July 24th - Running 360cc stock injectors, stock fuel pump...
I parked the car in my driveway and installed an HKS AFR in preparation for getting my new injectors and pump. The install of the HKS AFR went FINE, ran great. It idled fine for about 15 minutes as the HKS AFR went through it's "learning mode". After finishing the learning mode, I went over to my neighbors for about 2 hours and had a few beers. After coming back to my house I decided to drive the car in the garage. The car didn't start. Turned over, fired, idled very roughly around 600rpm and died after about 10 seconds. Cranked it over again, same thing. It WAS working fine 2 hours before this. I played around with the wires for the AFR where I spliced in my connections to the ECU and then cranked the car over again, it fired right up and has worked fine.

August 1st
The car has been running fine. I installed new IPO (Thanks Chris! - you rock) 550cc injectors. After the installation, the car runs FINE without any problems still. I tune the AFR accoridngly....

August 10th
I installed a new Walbro 341 pump in the car. Now I'm running 550s, a Walbro, and an HKS AFR. The car runs FINE again without ANY problem.

August 15th
I fixed 3 boost leaks on my car. Car runs even better. STILL not exibiting the problem of not starting.

August 22nd 10:00am
I'm heading up to the Minnesota All Mitsu Cookout and Car Show (Great job by Curt G putting this together). I had left my house and met with with Flatlander near Madison, WI. We fill up at a gas station and the car has been shut off now for about 20 mins while we chit-chat. When I finally go to start the car, the car won't start. It exhibits the SAME problems it did on July 24th. The car turned over, fired, ran roughly for about 10 seconds at idle and then died. After several more attempts at restarting, it wouldn't even stay running for 10 seconds. It would just die immediately or not start at all. Almost as if the car wasn't getting any fuel. Flatlander and I push the car to the side of the gas station and I grab the HKS AFR (which isn't mounted, its just sitting next to the drivers seat) and I'm going to start adjusting the idle mixture when I crank it over, and BAM, it starts fine. I'm thinking "loose wire"? Anyways... We start our trip to Rogers, MN.

August 22nd 12:00pm
We stop at McDonalds. The car is parked for about 30 minutes. Get back in the car, it starts up fine.

August 22nd 3:00pm
We stop for gas. I fill up, I get gas. The car starts up fine.

August 22nd 7:00pm
I'm checked into the hotel. The car is parked for about 20 minutes. I start the car up, and it starts fine again. We all drive over to Francis' house for dinner.

August 22nd 10:00pm
I decide to leave Francis' house and head back to the hotel. I try and start my car. Doesn't start. It idles roughly for 10 seconds and then dies. I adjust my idle mixture on the AFR, setting it VERY rich +25 or +40 etc.), and it start idling longer, but still roughly and eventually dies. After several tries at restarting, I notice the car stays running for a shorter time. ALmost as if the fuel left in the line is being used up and no new fuel is getting in. We start checking for loose wires on the AFR, can't find any. Crimp down all connections on the AFR, still doesn't fix it. We mess around with checking voltage at the fuel pump, and by the time we mess around with that for 30 minutes, I'm checking the voltage at the fuel pump connector while Francis tries cranking it over. As soon as he cranks it, bam, 8v on the multimeter and the car fires up. We're lefting thinking, 'HUH?" because we didn't really DO anything. It just fixed itself (again).

August 23rd
All day the car started fine. I went to the All Mitsu Cookout and Car Show, car exhibited NO problems.

August 24th 10:00am
Flatlander and I leave in the morning, and the car starts up fine again. We get about 100 miles down the freeway, and the car DIES while doing 75/80mph. I pull over to the side of the road. Same thing. Cranks over, fires, and runs rough for 10 seconds and dies. After several more attempts, and messing with wires on the AFR and fuel pump connector, each time I try and start it, it stays running a shorter amount of time. Again, like fuel isn't getting to the cylinders.

August 24th 1:30pm
I've now messed around trying different things for an hour and a half on the side of the freeway, and nothing works. This time, the car does NOT fix itself like it seemed to before. I call for a flatbed and get it towed.

August 24th 9:30pm
I'm home from the Minnesota trip thanks to Flatlander and his wife giving me a ride. My car is stuck 300 miles (4 hours) North of me and I'm stumped, pissed, frustrated, and bummed.

Right now I'm thinking....
A) Bad fuel pump or...
B) Bad HKS AFR

However I don't know for sure it's etiher of them. I'm going to have to drive 4 hours with a boatload of tools and replacement parts to try and fix this.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what could be causing this problem.

Thanks guys... My car is 300 miles away (4 hours) and I need to figure this out SOON so I can go up north and fix my car.

As a side note, I'd like to give a very BIG thanks to Dave and Norma Judy from Illinois (Flatlander on 3SI.org) who drove me back home from MN. I owe you guys BIG.

Jesse

That does suck major ass.. If you need me to go up there with you, I have plenty of time being unemployed and all. Just give me a call if you need anything. 414-915-4560

_________________
~Joe - aka spider gear destroyer
'94 Stealth R/T
-Lightly Modded ;)

Jesse, sounds kinda like the prob I had with our 93. Check the wires going to your crank sensor. One of mine was cut up a bit from rubbing against the belts. Ran rough here and there, sometimes it was fine. Sometimes wouldn't start at all. Now the cause was from the crank pulley coming loose, which I talked to you about. I did get that fixed btw. The car runs great now. It probably isn't your problem, but thought I would throw that idea out there. Maybe its the crank sensor itself? good luck.

Aaron

Thanks for the reply guys. I'll update more tomorrow. I'm dead tired. I just spent 10 hours in the truck with SJ (that was hell by itself, haha!) for 550 miles towing my car on a u-haul flatbed trailer. I'm beat, and need to go to bed. I'll post more tomorrow..
J

Glad to hear the car is back home atleast. If you need anything, dont hesitate to ask.

_________________
~Joe - aka spider gear destroyer
'94 Stealth R/T
-Lightly Modded ;)

UPDATE:

Last Night
Took the fuel pump assembly out of the car. Measured the resistance across the wires from the black connector to the pump itself for both + and - . Both showed 0 ohms so the wires seemed good.

Tonight
Installed the fuel pump assembly back in the car but left the hard line hose disconnected from the main fuel line and hooked up a hose to it with the ohter end going to a gallon of milk (empty). I applied 12v battery power to the fuel pump and the pump was spitting out alot of gas into the milk container. Diagnosis -> Pump is good.

Then, I reconnected the fuel hard line from the pump assembling to underneath the car where it meets the other hard line. Then I disconnected the fuel return line of the FPR. I added another hose to the FPR that went to an empty plastic water bottle. Again, I applied 12v battery to the pump and gas spewed into the water bottle. Diagonsis -> Fuel was making it to the rails and back without problem.

Finally I hooked everything back up to the FPR and tried starting the car again for kicks. It cranked, fired, and ran perfectly.

Diagnosis? Who the hell knows!

Possible cause -> A pinched wire on the fuel pump assembly before that was fixed after I reinstalled it tonight.

After the fuel pump was installed on the car 2 weeks ago, the gas gauge has not worked. It kept reading "E". Obviously the float was junk kinked or stuck, no big deal. That gas gause now works, and so does the car. I'm GUESSING there was another kinked wire or something that got fixed when I took out, and reinstalled the fuel pump assembly. NOTHING else was changed.

So. I'll try driving it short distances over hte next few days with a FULL set of tools, electrical wire, multimeter, parts, etc. in the event it suddenly DIES again. But for now, the problem seems fixed, although I'm not sure WHY.

FRUSTRATING!!!!!
- Jesse

YAY! for Jesse and his car.

Thats great news man. Not that you had to go through all of this, but that the car seems to be back in order. Its funny how the simplest things can cause the biggest problems.

_________________
~Joe - aka spider gear destroyer
'94 Stealth R/T
-Lightly Modded ;)

that rules that you got your car up and running again, you da man pimp.

_________________
Bryan Louis
I had a 3kgt...then some douche bag wanted to run into it.

Yea well. I don't know if it'll stay running or if it just fixed itself again. I'm guessing it's fixed as a result of something out of whack (wires/connector) in the fuel pump assembly since thats the only thing I took out. However, I'm not saying that's it. The problem may still be there. I will be driving around with a full tool kit and parts for quite awhile now to be sure.

Jesse,

Just curious, did you check for spark when your car was sitting on the side of the highway?

No, but it defintely was getting a spark because it would fire and run for a little while. Then it would just die. Tuesday night (the first time I looked at the car since getting it back in my garage), I did check for spark before pulling apart the fuel pump assembly and checking the fuel lines... I saw spark on consistently on the bottom 2 coils when cranking it over, and only saw spark on the top coil rarely (or maybe it was my eyes). I do remember thinking, "odd.... should I see equal amounts of spark at each coil?"..

So to answer you're question. No I didnt check it on the side of the road. Yes I did check it the other night. No I couldnt make a determination if what I saw was correct. I never checked spark on my coils before so I'm not sure if what I saw was normal. Ideas?

Get your ECU caps replaced, then we'll head down that road if it doesn't fix the problem.

My Talon did something like this when the board went to hell (inconsistant spark, odd feul delivery issue). Some days, it would be fine. Other days (especially, if it was really humid), it would display symptoms like you are experiencing.

good to hear you are back on the road again jesse.